annual achievement report

Annual Achievement Report

2015-2016

Lancaster University Bright Futures Society

President: Clinton Ajayi

Highlights

• 1,682 Facebook likes

• 200 new members

• 15 events this year

• 11 Graduate employers

• 4 collaborations

• We have had more than 500 students attend-

ing our events this year

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Table of contents

i President Letter

i Committee Capability & Objectives

i Events List

i Meet the Committee Team

i Succession Plans

i Hired E-Zine Article (by Amy Cowan)

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President’s Letter

It has been a great year of strength for Lancaster University Bright Futures Society, I came in to this society as a

Secretary in March 2015 and became President in September due to unfortunate circumstances involving our

previous President. I took on the position immediately, with a team of only 3 including myself we had to organise

our first 3 biggest events before bringing in a new committee that would help us out significantly. It has been

hard, especially at the start where I had to balance a 16 hour weekly job, with being the President of one of the

biggest societies in Lancaster University and having to carry out several roles such as keeping our Facebook

updated and sending out emails to our members due to the size of our team at that point. Plus the fact that one of

our other 2 committee members is President of the Entrepreneurs Society at Lancaster University so he had to

split his time between 2 societies.

But we managed to do it! We signed up over 200 new members this year, our signature event Dinner with Industry

was a success once more. Selling out a week after tickets went on sale and having a Law firm in attendance for

the first time in its 8 year history. We’ve achieved most of the goals that we set out at the start of the year which

is fantastic and which makes me so proud of the team that I’ve brought in. Even before I became President I had

two main goals for this society, I wanted us to win the diversity award at this year’s awards as we just missed out

last year and I also wanted us to have an event with a Law firm. I feel that we’ve outdone ourselves in terms of

reaching these 2 goals. I wanted us to be diverse in terms of the events we had and also have more events in

relation to Gender equality. That has been achieved through the events we’ve had with Mercedes and Edmonds

Marshall McMahon, as well as the fact that we had a week of events about empowering Women in different

corporate sectors.

Although it has been a lot of hard work, being President of this society also brings a lot of joy and fulfilment.

Last week during dinner with my ex committee team, I received a message from a First Year Law student who

had attended Dinner with Industry who had just received a week’s work experience at Clyde&Co. He just wanted

to thank us for helping him get the work experience, those type of things really make my day the fact that we had

played a part in getting him that is what Bright Futures is all about.

My time at Lancaster Bright Futures is definitely not over, we still have one more event at the end of April with

Mark Wright (winner of the Apprentice) which may turn out to be our biggest event of the year. Also as I am

now a National Ambassador, I look forward to helping other Bright Futures societies be as successful as they

can.

With thanks to all of the people and organisations that have supported our success this year: the committee, the

top graduate employers and SMEs, the Careers Teams, the faculty contacts, the Students’ Union and all of our

763 members.

Clinton Ajayi, President of Lancaster University Bright Futures Society

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Committee Capability & Objectives

To maintain the status of ‘Champion’:

Criteria Outcome

Sell out signature event Dinner with In-dustry.

Achieved: Sold out a week before event.

To Increase likes on our Facebook page by 300, by next Awards Ceremony.

Achieved: Facebook Page now has 1,682 likes from 1,373 likes (18/03/2015).

To have a big Law Firm at Dinner with In-dustry for the first time in its 8 year his-tory.

Achieved: Clyde&Co a non-corporate sponsor and the number 1 Law firm in the Insurance sector was in attendance at DWI.

Would like to have 800 members by end of the Year, from 628 members.

Nearly Achieved: Currently have 763 members.

Work with the Law Society on an event. Achieved: Collaborated with them on our empowering women in Law event.

Work with the Engineering Depart-ment/Society.

Achieved: Collaborated with them on Mercedes event

Work with these firms on events, Accen-ture, Mercedes, IBM, Nestle, Tesco, Bar-clays, Clyde&Co, EY.

Nearly Achieved: Worked with all but one of these firms (Tesco) due to unfore-seen circumstances.

Work with a small company or start up from the local area

Achieved to an extent: Worked with small company (Edmonds Marshall McMahon) however they are not from the local area.

Use University Careers Department to ad-vertise events

Achieved: From 2nd term all events have been advertised by University Careers department

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Events List

Michaelmas Term September 2015 – December 2015

Postgraduates fair

• 29th September 2015

• Had a stall at the Postgraduates fair for the second time, this effort resulted in signing up 30 postgraduate

students

• 30 new members signed up

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Freshers Fair

• 1st October 2015

• We set up a stall during the Fresher’s fair at the start of term. This is our key attempt to attract members and

promote our upcoming events.


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How to get the best graduate job?

• 12TH October 2015

• Partner: MyKindaFuture

• Attendance: 100


• Description: “At our first event of the new academic year, we’ll welcome you to the Bright Futures Society by

bringing an external speaker from Bright Futures.

The Guest Speaker will be talking about application forms, psychometric testing, assessment centres and inter-

views and will also give hints and tips on how to be competitive and successful in the graduate market!

This event should be useful to everyone hoping to apply for a graduate job, from freshers to final years and

masters!

We will provide refreshments at the end of the session and an opportunity to network with other people from the

society.

We will also be signing up new members, who didn't get a chance to sign up at the freshers fair!

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Head Start event for First and Second Year Students

• 13th October 2015

• Partner: LUMS Careers department

• Student Attendance: 70

• Description: Lancaster Bright Futures is proud to host its first event targeted specifically at 1st and 2nd year

students, which will provide members with invaluable insights and tips into the application process for the work

experience schemes!

Many firms nowadays offer spring weeks and summer internships, tailored for students with limited previous

work experience. These schemes can not only boost your CV and help develop necessary employability skills,

but also develop your understanding of the firm, the workplace culture and, most importantly, the role that you

are choosing.

More often do companies also use these schemes to identify talent early and the end result could be you getting

a graduate job offer, if you get your foot in the door early!

At this session we will equip you will all the necessary knowledge about the schemes that companies offer, how

to job-hunt best, how to approach the application process and the interviews and how to make your application

shine and stand out from the crowd! It is a must-to-attend session for anyone, starting from people who have 0 to

very limited understanding of what they want to do in the future and ending with people who need a bit of help

to get you started with those tough applications.

After the event, the careers team will be happy to arrange for one-to-one session with anyone who attended for

additional support. We really hope to inspire you with this session, so please come along and you will not be

disappointed!

• 16 new member signed up

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Bright Futures Elections

• 21st October 2015


• Description:

There are 7 positions available within the Exec Team:

- PR Officer

- Secretary

- Treasurer

- Corporate Liaisons Officer

- 3 Event Committee Members (one of which could possibly be elected Events Manager)

Would you like to be part of new Lancaster Bright Futures EXEC team? Are you career driven and passionate

about helping your fellow student succeed in the job market? Could you be the future and drive of your Bright

Future Society? If you wish to boost your CV, gain experience and have the opportunity to organise big and

popular events with Top Graduate Employers, come along, give a two-minute speech and put you forward.

If you have any further questions or would like to discuss this opportunity further, do not hesitate to contact us

7 new exec member elected, plus new Website Officer role created

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Rubik’s Social Friday

• 6th November 2015

• Partners: Lancaster University Marketing Society, Lancaster University Entrepreneurs and Lancaster Univer-

sity Advertising Society


• Description: LUMS societies are joining for the greatest bar crawl of term. Think you can last until the end?

We'll give you free wrist bands to the Latin Party @ The Apothecary or Sugar entry! #shotsthatsolve

• Notes: Joint on campus bar crawl with other LUMS societies, where each society had to wear a specific col-our to show which society they’re part of. Just to show our members that we do have a social side and we’re not all about careers.

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Intern in Asia

• 10th November 2015

• Partners: Absolute Internship


• Description: We invited Absolute Internship to unveil the way to get an internship in Asia and boost your

career.

'Intern in Asia: the best way to boost your career' will give you an insight into the Asian market and economy,

how to do business there, culture and tips on how to behave. The introduction will be followed by a networking

session with drinks and snacks provided that will give you the chance to talk and ask questions to Carla Ferrero,

Europe Office Manager of Absolute Internship.

In less than 5 years, Absolute Internship has formed into a powerful and reputable program for university students

leading the industry in Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Shanghai and Singapore. Absolute Internship is a

pioneering firm and they work with great companies to provide students and graduates the opportunity to develop

both their personal and professional skillset and inspire them to follow their passions in an international environ-

ment with other students from all around the globe. Their complete internship programs allow participants to step

out of their comfort zone, gain insight into their industry of interest in an international work environment, meet

industry leaders and build their professional network.

Their program provides guaranteed placement in your industry of interest, accommodation, visa, planned pro-

gram events to the best tourist attractions in the world, a career development seminar series, and daily local

transportation to and from work. This makes for a safe, CV-boosting and extremely valuable experience for

students and graduates to explore a career in the most exciting cities in the world.

This extremely successful elite company has three global offices around the world.

Frequently covered by The New York Times, BBC News, Bloomberg Businessweek, Sky News, Business Re-

view Europe and China Daily as a Top China Internship Expert.

So, if you are interested about Asia, starting a business there or gaining valuable international experience, come

along to LUMS LT1 on Tuesday, 10th November at 2pm.

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Dinner with Industry 2015

• November 19th 2015

• Partners: LUMS Careers Department, Clyde&Co, Deloitte, IBM, Accenture, EY, Barclays


• Description: Lancaster University Bright Futures Society invites you to our annual signature event Dinner with

Industry 2015!

The largest annual society careers event at LU brings together students and top graduate employers for an evening

of food, drinks and networking at the Lancaster House Hotel. Meet representatives from companies such as

Deloitte, Accenture, EY, Barclays, Clyde&Co and IBM over an informal drinks reception followed by a delicious

3 course meal.

This is your chance to gain first hand insights from some of the faces behind the UK's leading employers and

find out what it is they're looking for in applicants throughout the evening.

Notes: First time Law Firm ( Clyde&CO) in attendance.

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Student Feedback on Dinner with Industry

Questions given to students for feedback:

In a few words, what did you think of our event?

Would you recommend it to another student in Lancaster University?

What would you improve about this event?

“I think the event was very well run, well done!

We had a chance to talk to all the companies we like, the meal was very nice and it wasn't too expensive!

Maybe next year you can invite other companies like Saatchi & Saatchi or Nestle, so not just accounting firms,

as some students might have an interest in Marketing or Advertising etc. Emoji”

(Joey Chin, Second Year Marketing Student)

“1. Informative and a good experience to meet professionals in accounting.

2. Yes, the fact that many of the employees were from Lancaster University was very nice.

3. The hallway where everyone was talking before the dinner was very small, try and move the stalls somewhere

else. Also, I don't think many freshers actually knew about this event, I hadn't heard of it but my friend invited

me because she knew someone going who was in a higher year.”

(Abi Whitehouse, First Year Accounting & Finance Student)

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Corporate Investor Feedback on Dinner with Industry

“I just wanted to say a massive thank you for involving Barclays and my team in the recent event. We thoroughly

enjoyed the evening and spoke to some of the most motivated and keen students. It is so exciting to think that

these students are our future, in whatever job roles and industries they choose. A wonderful night, well done for

ensuring everything ran so smoothly and also thanks to the Hotel team, for looking after us so well! If I can be

of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask”

(Sheena Wilde, Barclays)

“Many thanks again for organising the Dinner with Industry last week – the evening was a great success and I

thoroughly enjoyed myself! The event ran smoothly and it was an absolute pleasure to be a part of it. Thanks

again for including EY in the evening. Let me know if you have any questions or want to talk through anything.”

(Kev Rhodes, EY)

“It was a pleasure to meet you and the Exec on Thursday evening. I thought the event was well organised and

that there was a wonderful atmosphere. It was so nice to see everyone enjoy themselves.

Well done on attracting non LUMS students to also attend the event! “

(Louis Briggs, LUMS Careers)

“Thanks again for the invite; a great evening and happy to see so many enthusiastic students! We had plenty of

enquires about shadowing in Marketing and I wanted to let you know we're following this up internally. A re-

sponse may well come through the Marketing dept and/ or BF society, that will be confirmed in due course.”

(Benjamin Smith, IBM)

“It was good to meet you and everyone else at last night's dinner. I'm glad you felt our presence was useful and

we added a different perspective to the event. I think a few students have already found me on Linked-In, which

is great.

Good luck with the rest of your studies and if we can help in any way in the future, then do let me know.”

(Kim Broadbent, Clyde&Co)

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Mercedes Engineering event

• January 18th 2016

• Partners: Mercedes and Lancaster University Engineering department


• Description:

Formula One Power Unit Engineering lecture: A lecture on the challenges of engineering a modern Formula One

Power Unit from the viewpoint of Andy Cowell a Managing Director at Mercedes and a former student of Lan-

caster University.

Andy Cowell is a Managing Director at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd After graduating

from Lancaster University in 1991, with a first class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering, Andy joined

Cosworth Racing Ltd on their graduate scheme.

By 1999, he was leading the engine project group responsible for the top end of the innovative CK engine as

raced by Stewart Ford. Andy joined Mercedes-Ilmor in 2004 as Principal Engineer for the FQ V10 engine project.

He was then Chief Engineer on the V8 project before taking on responsibility for the technical and programme

leadership of all engine projects, including the KERS hybrid, which made its race debut in 2009.

Andy was Engineering and Programme Director for Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines from July 2008

– December 2012 and represented Mercedes in the FiA regulation discussions for the new 2014 Power Unit.

Since January 2013, Andy has been Managing Director of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd.

In 2014 and 2015, Mercedes-Benz won the Constructors’ Championships and Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 and

2015 Drivers’ Championships, with Nico Rosberg runner-up.

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Apple Retail Event

• 3rd February 2016

• Partners: Apple Retail


• Description:

At this year's Spring Careers Fair on February 3rd in the Great Hall, Apple Inc. will be coming to Lancaster University for the very first time.

For all those of you interested in finding out more about the various career opportunities at Apple Inc., we were able to organise an exclusive information session with the Apple representatives on campus!

Join us on February 3rd, from 6pm in LUMS LT3 to find out more about:

- Apple Retail

- Part-time & full-time roles

- Graduate career opportunities & more

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2nd Intern in Asia Event

• February 11th 2016

• Partners: Absolute Internship


• Description:

Learn about how to get an internship in Asia from Carla Ferrero Europe Office manager at Absolute Internship. This is a great opportunity to learn about how to market yourself when looking for an internship. Carla will also speak about the soft skills you can learn and challenges you will face on these internships

Their mission is to inspire you to succeed through the program by meeting like minded ambitious, driven and international-minded students as well as influential industry experts and successful business leaders in world-class cities overseas.

Learn more about Absolute intership here: http://absoluteinternship.com/about/

For those who missed the Intern in Asia in Michaelmas, you don't want to miss this one so put it in your diary.

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Building your Personal brand with Nestle

• February 24th 2016

• Partners: Nestle


• Description:

Are you applying for placements, internships or graduate jobs?

Would you like to hear first-hand what you can do to make yourself stand out in all of your applications?

Would you like to work for challenging, vibrant and growing worldwide organisation?

If you answered yes to the above questions, this event is for you!

How to make yourself stand out:

Personal Branding with Nestle!

Join Nestle and the Lancaster Bright Futures Society to develop your very own personal brand!

If you have never thought about how you can stand out from the crowd in your applications, join us on Wednes-

day, 24th of February to learn more about what a personal brand is, how you can develop one for yourself and

most importantly how you can use it to help land your dream job. We will be focusing on how to perfect your

skills in interviews and using social networks to boost your personal brand to get yourself noticed. Nestle will

also be helping you to understand what leading graduate employers are looking for in students and how important

building a personal brand is.

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Empowering Women Week 29th Feb – March 4th 2016

In the lead up to international women's day which is on March 8th, we at Lancaster University Bright

Futures Society are hosting a couple of events in the hopes of empowering women going into sectors such

as Law and business.

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Empowering Women in Law

• 29th February 2016

• Partners: Edmonds Marshall McMahon and Lancaster University Law Society


• Description:

Founding female partners Kate McMahon and Tamlyn Edmonds of top City Law firm Edmonds Marshall

McMahon are taking the time out of their busy schedule to give a talk about how they established their firm and

how quickly they've garnered success. They will talk about the setbacks they've faced and give advice to future

female lawyers who will one day like to set up their own Law firm.

Edmonds Marshall McMahon was named “Boutique Law Firm of the Year – City” at the 2014 Lawyer Awards,

after only being established for 2 years.

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Empowering Women in Business

• 2nd March 2016

• Partners: Accenture and LUMS Careers department

• Description:

The Accenture event will firstly be at the LUMS careers zone from 2:30pm - 3:30pm then at LUMS hub cafe

from 3:30pm - 4:30pm.

“At Accenture, our commitment to inclusion and diversity starts at the top, and we empower all of our people –

including our more than 130,000 women – to lead…We believe strongly that gender equality is essential for a

high-performing, talent-led organization.” – Pierre Nanterme, CEO of Accenture.

Accenture will be on campus eager to celebrate empowering women's week with the best and brightest of Lan-

caster students .The first hour will be a presentation delivered with some time for a Q & A at the LUMS careers

and the second hour will be networking with their representatives where we will head down to the LUMS Hub

cafe. This is not only a great way to find out more about the business but also their values on diversity. Their reps

will be on hand to talk about their experiences and provide excellent advice and insight!

Join Accenture representatives to celebrate International Women’s Day!

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2nd Bright Futures Elections

• 10th March 2016

• Attendance: 10

• Description:

Would you like to be part of a new Lancaster Bright Futures exec team?

Are you career driven and passionate about helping your fellow student succeed in the job market?

Could you be the future and drive of your Bright Futures society?

Would you like to come down to London with the current exec for the Bright Futures national conference?

Come along to our elections event on Thursday 10th March (6pm) at LUMS Lecture Theatre 7

Please find a list of the positions that are open below:

• Vice President

• Secretary & Treasurer

• Marketing and Publications Officer

• Corporate Liaisons Officer

• Events Officer

If you would like more information about the roles, please feel free to drop our Facebook page a message :).

Joining our Exec team can boost your CV and allows you to stand out from other students.

Thank you!

• Notes: 3 new Exec members elected, 2 roles still need to be filled but demand is high for them and may

run another election next term.

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Meet the Committee Team

President: Clinton Ajayi, Second Year Economics Student

Vice President: Philipp Kuchsnir, Second Year Management Student

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Corporate Liaisons Officer: Hawra Hussain. Masters Student in Marketing

Events Manager: Elena Doni, Masters Student in Marketing

Events team member: Fong Chuen, First Year Accounting and Finance Student

Events team member: Anara Maimakova, Second Year Business Economics student

Marketing and Publications Officer: Ekaterina Pykhanova, Third Year Marketing

PR Officer: Sisi Coel, Second Year Law Student

Treasurer: Amy Cowan, Second Year Marketing Student

Website Officer: Angela Nemeth, Second Year Law Student

Secretary: Evelyn Bai

Succession Plans

We held elections in early March and were able to recruit 3 new exec committee members. A lot of our current

committee members are third years or going on placements, so none wanted to be promoted to a new role such

as President. So I will carry on in the role as President until the new year, where an ex Vice- President who is

coming back from a placement may succeed me or one of the new committee members may feel they’re up to

the task. As I feel the President should be someone who has had experience in the team and knows what Bright

Futures is about I don’t really want to put it up for elections to someone that hasn’t been part of the team. In terms of handover I think it will run quite smoothly as I am still the President so I can teach the new committee

members their tasks. I have also made sure all the current committee members leaving their roles to make a

handover note on their role that will be given to the new committee member taking over.

Key learning will be passed on to the new team, including the importance of managing expectations with em-

ployers, avoiding organising events late in the term and also the most successful promotional techniques. Key

documents will also be handed over, such as Excel planning and budgeting spreadsheet for Dinner with Industry,

and Event Feedback formats.

A dinner was organised just after the 2nd elections, for the old committee to thank them for all their hard work.

The roles of Secretary and Treasurer have now been combined into one role as we felt that it would be more

efficient. There will also be only two members in the events team rather than three, again to improve efficiency.

The new committee will determine the events to run during 2015-16, although some successful events from this

year are likely to be repeated, and our annual Dinner with Industry will continue.

The 2016-17 committee names and roles are as follows:

President – Clinton Ajayi

Secretary and Treasurer – Isabella Li

PR Officer – Sisi Coel

Marketing and Publications Officer – Goda Gavenyte

Events Manager: Fong Chuen

Website Officer: Angela Nemeth

Events Team Member: Fidan Mutallibova

Notes: The 2 roles of Vice President and Corporate Liaisons Officer still need to be filled.

Hired E-zine Article

Our Treasurer Amy Cowan’s article on Applying for a Career in Retail

annual achievement report

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